BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition February 2019

MARY ZILBA
Reality TV star enters budding realm of cannabis
JAMILA POMEROY
Mary Zilba invests in medicinal properties of cannabis.
Recording artist, business woman, TV personality
and philanthropist, Mary Zilba, enters the budding
realm of cannabis. With the announcement of
her new company, Marz Ventures INC, Zilba plans
to incorporate her ethics grounded in women’s
rights and empowerment, while helping to end the
negative stigmas of the plant. “It was a very natural
thing for me to get heavier into the cannabis
space. I’ve never had a problem with [cannabis]
because I never believed it caused the problems
that a schedule one drug should cause. I’ve always
felt that alcohol is the more evil of the two;
without the side-effects that alcohol can cause.
I’ve never had a negative thought about cannabis
and It’s never something I’ve thought badly about,”
explains Zilba.
“It’s something that hits close to home,” says
Zilba, who shares that her son was able to get off
his seizure medication with the use of cannabis.
“He had a very debilitating seizure disorder since
he was three. He had been on every kind of
medication that you could imagine, every anticonvulsive
medication they could possibly get him
on, because nothing was controlling his seizures. A
lot of pharmaceuticals take trial and error for them
to work, and sometimes a lot of them don’t work;
so patients are stuck having seizure after seizure,”
explains Zilba. With symptoms only getting worse,
her concerns grew deeper. “He had been having
such difficulties at school, he wasn’t able to stay
awake, he was having really dark thoughts and
they weren’t controlling the seizures,” she explains.
After searching the Internet for alternatives, Zilba
stumbled across the high CBD strain, Charlotte’s
Web. After much research, Zilba introduced
cannabis oil into her son’s medical regime,
foreverchanging his life. “He’s 23 and hasn’t has a
seizure since. It’s incredible and it makes me cry
when I tell the story” she shares.
In addition to the great success with her son,
Zilba has seen cannabis change her family in
other positive ways, including helping her brother
combat addiction. “I have six brothers and sisters
and one of my brothers was addicted to opioids
and cocaine for a very long time. He’s now clean,
but you know, we were a big catholic family and all
professionals and my brother just took the wrong
road. He ended up being quite addicted,” she
explains. While cannabis may have been labeled
as a gateway drug for years, it’s hard to see it as
anything other than an exit drug, with cannabis
being so prevalent in alternative addictions
counseling. “I’m very familiar with addiction, what
it can do and how it can rip families apart [...] It
wasn’t until recently that my brother had to utilize
cannabis to get off the opiods. He’s 51 now and
since 18, has been an addict. So the miraculous
things I have seen over time, have really been the
reason I have gotten into the cannabis business,”
Zilba explains.
It’s stories like these that really help remove
the negative stigma of the plant, and people like
Zilba, that are helping give a new, welcoming face
to the industry. Amidst the recurrence of cannabis
greatly improving the lives of the people around
her, Zilba had began working on the media side
of the industry. “in the meantime I had started
my company LadyPants Productions. We started
doing cannabis content for different companies.”
A product of the production company, is the
popular cannabis cooking series, BAKED, which
showcases different recipes including cannabis. “In
doing all of that cannabis content, I started getting
more and more involved in the cannabis space
and meeting more people. I started really finding
there was a great lack of knowledge and education
for patients, and really anyone who is interested
in cannabis. I began to get really passionate about
helping, particularly women, understand the
benefits of cannabis,” she explains.
It may be easy for some under the spotlight, to
kick back and relax, but for Zilba, the importance
of using her following for good is paramount. After
realizing her passion for the cannabis industry, and
larger, her passion for helping others, Zilba began
to reach out to cannabis companies, eventually
leading her to forming Marz Ventures INC. “It’s
really encapsulating everything I have been doing
in the cannabis space, all in one company, but
ebelishing on that and being able to take it to
a world-wide level. Marz Ventures is a global,
fully integrated company: including branded
dispensaries, cannabis product lines and grow
facilities, while providing consumers with ample
information about the plant. With plans to adhere
their quality premium product, with ethics that
serve patients and consumers; we can only expect
the company to make giant positive waves in the
cannabis industry.
STRAIN-OF-THE-MONTH
Charlotte’s Web
Great for consumers who don’t want their medication to affect their daily tasks, Charlotte’s Web
is the low THC, high CBD strain sent from above. Known for helping to treat seizures, as well as a
large range of other medical conditions, the strain has gained worldwide recognition due to the
higher than average CBD content. Cultivated by the Stanley Brothers for a young epileptic patient
named Charlotte, the strain has helped spark medical research while helping clear negative stigmas
associated with cannabis. Charlotte’s Web boasts scents of pine and citrus, all adding to the painrelieving
and anti-inflammatory qualities of the strain.
14
February 2019